All That Remains
by Delusional882
Summary: This marine finds himself left with a hard choice, trust the ghost or succumb to the Zerg, follow his journey of survival.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I remember the words my father once told me, "be strong, be brave, be bold, but most importantly, don't be afraid to run", I now find myself in the cargo hold of a Medivac, my team and I plan to reclaim Tarsonis from the Zerg, initial assaults on the Zerg have proven unsuccessful and the Dominion have now turned towards the 54th battalion and the ghosts to solve this problem.

* * *

"Hey, did we have to be the team to have the ghost tag along?", "yeah, why do we have to be the ones to shuttle this bag of shit". Marines and Ghosts have never had a very, 'friendly' relationship, however I've always had respect for them, this is due to my younger sister, actually training to become one herself.

"Shut it, both of you, orders are orders and I intend to follow them", both of the marine's look at me with an evil eye, before their helmets hiss shut. "I never got your name love" the ghost looks blankly at me, "are you okay, you don't look to hot". I unlock my chair and step up towards the ghost, I wave my hand mere inches away from her face, "hello, anyone in there".

She begins to break into some kind of spasm, I grab her by both of her arms, only lightly holding her down, I point at one of the marines, "You, go tell the pilot that the ghost is having a spasm". I get on one knee as the ghost seems to shake more and more violently by the minute. "We need a medic back here now!" the marine shortly returns, with a medic behind him.

The medic takes one look at the ghost then darts off to the cockpit again, she returns with a medical kit, "do you know what's going on doc" the medic opens the kit, and begins to pull out a whole array of objects, most of which I had no idea of what they are. The ghost begins to slow down, "is this meant to happen" the medic looks at me in disgust "yes, now can you please stop asking questions".

Over the course of five minutes the ghost had stopped, the medic then pulled something out of the kit that I was all too familiar with, "that's an AED, is she dead", I always admired how medics could stay completely calm in situations like this. I didn't need a mirror to know that my face was covered in fear and concern, one part of me didn't want the ghost to die, the other saw her as a liability and wanted her dead.

I was conflicted, and in the end I decided to let fate decide, I helped the medic move the ghost to an isolated room, I stepped outside, the door slammed shut and the sound of a lock snapped into place.

I made my way to the cabin where I informed the pilot, "I not sure what's happening to the ghost, but I think her situation is deteriorating" the pilot presses a few buttons on the panel and turns to me, "I'm going to see how she is, can you watch the cockpit whilst I'm gone", I look at the panel in front of the joystick, "I don't need to drive right", she giggles, "no, just watch for anything that goes wrong, and come get me if you need to", I raise my right hand to a salute, "yes ma'am!", the pilot leaves the cockpit in my, not so capable hands.

I sit in the cockpit for a good hour or so, by then I had read every manual in the database about flying this thing, if it ever came to it, I felt a little more confident in my ability to pilot this thing. I could hear the clanking of metal on metal, only a marine makes that sound when they walk. A marine walk's in and salutes me, "sir, the pilot wanted me to tell you that the ghost is fine, and is making a good recovery after the seizures, she will arrive shortly", I return the salute, "thanks you …" I intended to call the marine by his name but I couldn't read his name, "it's M. Koiter", I give a thankful nod, the marine saw this as a reason to leave, and left.

I sat there twiddling my thumbs waiting for the pilot to arrive, I wanted to check on the ghost, I couldn't really pinpoint why I felt such a compulsion to check on her, I just felt the need to. A little while later, I began to doze off into my thoughts, this didn't last long as the pilot walked up behind me, "enjoying the view", I turn to look at her, "no, more dozing off", her eyes roll, "well I think you can go now, I can handle this".

After leaving the cockpit I started to make my way to the infirmary, it was a short walk, and I arrived with no interruptions. "hey doc" she turns to me, "oh, hi, you're looking for the ghost, she's just down there" I looked towards the direction she is pointing and start walking, she runs after me, "oh and one more thing", I turn my head to look at her, "sorry for blowing up at you, I know you were trying to help, I'm new you see, I was really just a panicked as you were" a smile crosses my face, "hey, don't even worry, it happens to the best of us, at least you can admit it", I continue to walk, she follows me.

I had, no clue why the medic seemed to attach to me the way she did, I assumed that she was just being polite and helpful, or so I thought. "Here she is" the medic opens the veil that hides the ghost away from sight. "How are you love?" the ghost jolts awake, she grabs a tight hold on my arm, "don't trust them", the ghost faints. I grab a hold on my pistol turning to face the medic, "what's her problem", the medic seems distant, "she's hallucinating, who knows what's happened", I feel my grip tighten around my pistol, "listen, you need to trust me, put that women down, now!", I look all around me frantically searching for the voice, "it's me, on the bed, that women tried to kill me", the medic has walked off, "you want me to shot her", it seemed weird talking to a voice in my head, "please, shot her, then there's a syringe on the pilot, it will remove my paralysis".


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I found the medic at work in the lab, "what you working on" I don't have any idea why I trust what the ghost told me, I just do, "the ghost experienced something that I had never seen before, so I took some samples and I'm analyzing them", there is no time to think, I undo my holster and pull out my pistol and remove the safety. "What are you doing?", the medic is standing only a few feet away from me, "I, ah, I was just testing my gun, better safe than sorry" the medic takes another step forward, pulling a hand though her hair, "you know, for a marine, your pretty cute" this confuses me, "well, thanks I guess".

The medic starts to walk closer to me hands conceal behind her back, for every step forward, I take one back, I hear a thump and fell the cold metal against my back, all this time my hand tightly holds onto my pistol, "I don't think this is very professional doc", she places a hand on my shoulder, her head rests on the other, "screw being professional", she whispers, her other hand rests on my pistol she pulls it out of my hand and lets it fall to the ground, "shot her, shot her, shot her!" the ghost seems to whisper into my other ear, "don't trust her, she's one of them".

One of them, these are the last words I heard before a scalpel was thrusted into my ribs, "I'm so sorry, but I can't let you ruin my plans" I groan, the blood already soaking my shirt, covering the floor, I look at the medic, her hand stroking though my hair over and over again "sh, sh, sh, don't fight it, just close your eyes" my pistol is in my reach, I go to grab it, my hand wraps around it, but I don't have the strength to lift it off of the ground, my head fell to her lap, "there we are, I really truly didn't want to this, I did like you, but you were in my way" I fell my eyelids grow heavy, in the corner of my eyes I see someone, "oi, what the hell are you doing to him", rounds are fired, the medic runs off.

"Are you okay sir" it's Koiter, my savior, "you need to get the nanites, they are the only things that can repair a wound like this" Koiter dashes off, glass is smashing, metal is crashing, "got it, okay stay still", he jabs the syringe into my wound, "ahhh, holy crap, fuck that hurts", it feels like bugs are crawling all over my wound, then it stops, Koiter extends a hand, I grasp it firmly, with his help I find my feet. "Can you explain what happened there", I haul myself up to a sitting position on the bench, "you're going to think me crazy, but there's Zerg on the ship", the marines face fills with horror, "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, we are so screwed" I feel faint, "Koiter, I need a blood bag, A positive", Koiter dashes off to and returns with a blood bag marked 'A POSITIVE', Koiter starts to prepare me for the blood. I decide to calm him a bit, "Koiter, I have no idea, who in this ship is infested, but I know I can trust you, and the ghost" Koiter stops in his tracks "the ghost, you're kidding me right, you can never trust a ghost" I finish off his work, "you trust me right", he nods, "then trust me when I say, that ghost is trustworthy".

We both sat in silence while I took the blood, "thanks you, for trusting me", I look a Koiter, who is 'playing' with his dog tag, I stand up and walk towards the ghost room, "should we take you with us, or leave you here", she takes some time before responding, "she will be back to finish the job, but I will weigh you down, I leave the choice in your hands". I leave the room, "Koiter, what do we do with the ghost?" Koiter looks puzzled, "don't ask me, she's your problem", I look towards the ghost's room, "okay then, she comes with us", Koiter stands, "okay, but you're carrying her".

I walk towards the ghost, "guess who's coming with us", I wait for a little while, no response, I pull the covers off of her, she is in her uniform, guess that's pretty lucky, I place one arm under both of her knees, the other behind her neck, "when I thought of this idea, I didn't expect you to be so heavy" grunting all the way, I eventually get the off of the bed, "so you made your choice, I'm a little pissed that you implied that I was fat", I look at her, "not fat love, heavy, big difference", I hear gun fire, "Koiter!", I run, "holy shit, there everywhere, how did they get on the ship anyway?", before I could attempt to answer that question the crackly scream of a zergling came from behind, pouncing on me, "get the fuck off of me you animal" I try my best to but the ghost down as gently as possible, but it proved difficult with a bloodthirsty beast attacking your back, once placed I grabbed a hold of the beast and crushed it's head with my foot.

"How far to the cargo hold", Koiter continues shooting, "we'll have to take the long route, this way is covered in Zerg", I retrieve the ghost, "let's move Koiter", Koiter takes slow steps back, never letting his finger leave the trigger. We come to an intersection, "Koiter, which way", Koiter is still firing, "right, go right", I take the right turn and I'm meet by two marines, "soldiers, go provide support to Koiter", they raise there Gauss Rifles to aim at me, then I see it, their infested, I duck around the corner, "Koiter, we have infested marines too", Koiter comes charging around the corner, "run, run, there's to many of them" I repeat what I last said, "we can't go right infested marines that way", he keeps running, "then go left", he darts around the corner I follow him closely behind.

The infested fire upon us, I hear the bullets fly by my head, I pull the ghost closer to protect her from incoming fire, "you look like you need a hand", I hear metal crunching, I quickly look back and see the marines' suits closing into them, crushing them, "thanks love", I look up and see Koiter, "why did we stop?", Koiter turns to me, "get down infestors", although harmless physically, infestors are parasitic Zerg which invade host minds and turn them against their own species.

"What's the plan, Koiter?", Koiter takes a peak around the corner, a hydralisk spine flies past his head, "oh, shit, that was close, I don't think we can go that way", a zergling shriek can be heard behind us, "well we can't go back can we", Koiter gives me a look, "I'm open to suggestion". Koiter and I begin to search our soundings, the ceiling holds promise, "a vent, I've found a vent in the ceiling", Koiter raises his head to observe the vent, "okay, I'll give you a boost, then the ghost then me, okay", I look behind us one more time, the shrieks are getting close, "okay, but we have to be quick", I place the ghost against the wall and Koiter gives me a boost, "okay, now her" I point to the ghost, "we could leave her", I give Koiter a death stare, "not an option, now hurry" he lifts her up as we both simultaneously grunt and groan as we pull and push her into the vent, I extend my hand, "come on Koiter", he jumps and our hands interlock, "faster I can hear them on my ass", Koiter wasn't lying, at that very instant a zergling jumped and locked it's jaws around Koiter's leg, "holy shit that hurts, keep pulling", as I pulled Koiter up he used his free hand to grab his pistol and shot the zergling, the alien screeched in agony and released its grip on Koiter.

"You okay?", Koiter is examining his leg, "yeah, the suit took the brunt", I look at his leg, it's badly banged up, the metal has been punctured in multiply places by the zerglings sharp teeth, "doesn't look that way", he turns back to me, "we have to get off of this thing, don't worry about me, at least I'm alive", at least Koiter has started to see the brighter side of things, "I'll get her, you find the way to the cockpit", Koiter crawls away.

I look down at the ghost, "you there", I hear a wisp of wind, "I'm here, what's up?", I look up and down here body, I have no idea what I'm searching for, "you hurt", another wisp of air, "not physically, mentally is a different concern", I look down the vent for Koiter, he hasn't returned, "your friend, Koiter, he is, interesting, I don't like him", I focus moves back to the ghost, "Koiter saved my life, I owe him" I hear a noise down the vent, I draw my pistol and aim it down the vent, "sir, I found it", I holster my pistol, "good job, I'm inbound", I look back to the ghost, "we'll finish this later", I grab the ghost around the waist and start to pull her along the vent, "don't interrupt me, okay?", I sigh, "be quick", the ghost takes some time, like she is carefully planning her words, "you're not gonna like this, but Koiter did not save your life, if he would have saved your life, he would have shot that bitch, but she still walks, does that not make you question his morals?", a scowl covers my face, "we should have left you behind".

I continue my way uninterrupted, the ghost completely silent, "Koiter, you there", I hear some shuffling, "down her sir", I follow the voice and find my way to Koiter, "how's it coming", Koiter is looking though a vent cover, "we're here", I look though the cover and see the pilot, the syringe is nowhere to be seen, "I don't see", it takes me some time till I realized that I had spoken out load, "Don't see what sir", I turn to the marine, "the ghost is in some kind of paralysis, the pilot allegedly had the cure for the paralysis hidden away in a syringe somewhere", the marine pushes past me, "let me have a look", the marine looks though the vent for some time before providing a response, "well I don't see it either, I guess we better ask her"


End file.
